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Sorry what does "it's a wash" mean here?

We have on the one hand a known bad thing, cigarettes contain all sorts of nasties, tars, combustion products etc etc

On the other we have propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, nicotine and food flavours that get vapourised (not burned). These have no proven links to cancer, PG and VG are already used in food and in medicines, some for inhalation. Also stage-smoke. There's no reason to think they are anywhere near as hazardous as smoking, though we haven't got good long-term data yet.

Regulation of ingredients would be good, but smoking cigarettes and vaping is very far apart in expected health outcomes.




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